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i'm a male from New York, who plans to apply to Prairie View A&M University or University Of Houston-Downtown and hopefully attend those schools. i have family in Houston but i never really get the chance to go talk to them, and i don't have their numbers or follow them on social media. but yeah i would like to know what it's really like in Houston, and the perspective of people who live there. i want to know stuff like Crime rate/statistics, climate, Houston culture/events, transportation options/commute time, how good are the healthcare facilities, taxes, affordability, and how much an apartment normally cost as i plan to possibly not live on campus. also give me advice on certain things that goes on with Houston or just Texas in general.
thank you and have a great day.
If you attend praire a&m, you technically won't be living in Houston. As a non native houstonian, this city's got all the big city amenties you'd expect. It's not world class like NYC, LA, San Fran, but on par with other large metros in the US. This city has has great food, shopping, pro sports, museums and parks. I'd say rent you'd be starting around 800-900 on up depending what you're looking for.
If you do UH downtown you'll pay more in rent as the inner 610 loop is expensive. Lots of people want the nice new apts and those start at about 1150. Depends what you do for work but right now real estate and cost of living has escalated quite a bit in the past few years.
Public transportation lacks big time. Idk crime stats but it feels safe overall.
I would start your search with the search function on this page, and then ask more specific questions if you don't find what you are looking for. These questions have been answered many times from varying points of view.
Inside the highway 610 loop it's still pretty expensive. It's not as bad as NYC/SF by far, but it's not as cheap as I thought it'd be. I think for a college student it's still a good idea to try and live inside the loop, though. Medical center would be a good option if you wanted to try and take the metro, but be prepared for a lot of homeless and shady looking people on the train (they're not good at checking for tickets so people just walk on all the time). Personally, I live in the Medical Center and just ride my bicycle to work in downtown.
Honestly though (since you asked for it), I've found Houston to be extremely boring and pretty dreadful.. The city is extremely flat, and having lived near/in hills all my life, I've really missed the interesting scenery/topography as well as the twisty mountain roads that come with giant hills. Furthermore, it's extremely hot/humid, which means a lot of mosquitoes and other insects as well. The roads are horrible (cracked my car's windshield hitting a pothole), and since there are no real zoning laws, everything is so far away, which also means there's no centralized place of activity. Downtown is essentially a business park, and the "famous" tunnels that drew me to the area in the first place shuts down after 5:30-6pm on weekdays, and there's virtually no activity to speak of on the weekends. There are pockets of the city with some activity and things to do/nightlife (Rice Village, Midtown, the Heights, etc), but it takes forever to get to or travel between those areas that usually I can't be bothered. Maybe it's just me as an outsider, because most native people here don't mind driving 30+ minutes to do something.
Don't get me wrong, it's a fine city to live in if you want to raise a family and have access to good schools. It's got a cheap cost of living (other than rent within the loop), no state income tax, big variety of food, sports, etc, but for someone who loves the outdoors it's been a big let down. It is also too different from where I'm from (Bay Area, CA) that I haven't been able to adjust to it.
Inside the highway 610 loop it's still pretty expensive. It's not as bad as NYC/SF by far, but it's not as cheap as I thought it'd be. I think for a college student it's still a good idea to try and live inside the loop, though. Medical center would be a good option if you wanted to try and take the metro, but be prepared for a lot of homeless and shady looking people on the train (they're not good at checking for tickets so people just walk on all the time). Personally, I live in the Medical Center and just ride my bicycle to work in downtown.
Honestly though (since you asked for it), I've found Houston to be extremely boring and pretty dreadful.. The city is extremely flat, and having lived near/in hills all my life, I've really missed the interesting scenery/topography as well as the twisty mountain roads that come with giant hills. Furthermore, it's extremely hot/humid, which means a lot of mosquitoes and other insects as well. The roads are horrible (cracked my car's windshield hitting a pothole), and since there are no real zoning laws, everything is so far away, which also means there's no centralized place of activity. Downtown is essentially a business park, and the "famous" tunnels that drew me to the area in the first place shuts down after 5:30-6pm on weekdays, and there's virtually no activity to speak of on the weekends. There are pockets of the city with some activity and things to do/nightlife (Rice Village, Midtown, the Heights, etc), but it takes forever to get to or travel between those areas that usually I can't be bothered. Maybe it's just me as an outsider, because most native people here don't mind driving 30+ minutes to do something.
Don't get me wrong, it's a fine city to live in if you want to raise a family and have access to good schools. It's got a cheap cost of living (other than rent within the loop), no state income tax, big variety of food, sports, etc, but for someone who loves the outdoors it's been a big let down. It is also too different from where I'm from (Bay Area, CA) that I haven't been able to adjust to it.
Anyways, just my $.02.
Having lived in SoCal for a few years and visited the Bay Area numerous times, I've never felt too entitled to elevated topography to bash a lush, green and very pleasant place like Houston.
I much prefer the wacky varied commercial scales and pace within the Houston area rather than the monotonous blocks of San Francisco. I feel a much more fluid sense of adventure around the Houston area rather than the same old boxes of places like Chicago and San Fran.
For routine consumption, I'd much rather have the futuristic (yet no less lively) form of Houston's Chinatown versus the fit-for-tourism construct of SF's old-world Chinatown.
Downtown Houston is still a center of high-powered sophisticated culture and interesting unusual bars AFTER 6pm unlike what the haters will be deceitful with. No, due to having many activity centers, downtown Houston is not an entertainment mass center but there are still bars and cultural activities and concerts to hit. I find pleasure in walking down the Main St. lights at night, feels like a futuristic Blade Runner setting.
"No activity" on the weekends in downtown Houston?
I find it difficult to park close to bars in downtown Houston on a Friday or Saturday night. Even Thursdays. "No activity" but it's funny how you can get a slice (or many slices) of pizza until 3:00 am in downtown Houston on weekends to accommodate the bar crawlers and sports go-ers. An appreciable number of spots do well in Houston after dark, from 12 Spot to No-tsu-oh to Flying Saucer and many points nearby.
Houston is an area of many distinct areas which offer differing senses of street design and architecture from Rice Village to Kemah's Light House District to Chinatown's late night neon bars to the oddball Munster's vibe White Oak bar crawl among quite a few others...so what if lazy people cannot handle a sense of adventure in a sprawling metro? Do not let them ruin a good sense of adventure.
We have the futuristic style like City Centre, we have the traditional style like Main St. in downtown. There is a mix of old and new here in Houston. Those who enjoy variety will not have a problem with Houston. Those who are closed-minded Anal Urbanists will never really appreciate it here, conversely.
Centralized entertainment districts with a hundred bars like in those old-school or touristy burgs (the districts you get tired of going to over and over again, weekend after weekend. I lived in San Diego's Gas Lamp for a few months and that got lame really quick) ...baloney. Like someone is really going to be able to sample just 15 of them and then a nightcap at a nearby cafe, then simply go home.
I like being able to enjoy an ARRAY of WIDE DECK PARTY PATIOS on Richmond Avenue (a party environment format not available in the Bay Area) one weekend...yet another weekend later, I can enjoy the tighter urban format of Midtown Houston or downtown or the Montrose...then for another weekend, those eccentric palapa bars by the water in Kemah. Love Zone 504, T-Bone Tom's entertainment/food as well as the yellow Palapa Bar.
It's great to party in Houston metro. Whether near skyscrapers, or in converted mini-mansions or converted bungalows or in conventional urban block buildings or stylish strip centers, so MANY cafe/bar formats here...I never feel like I'm in the same Human Habi-trail here in the H-town environs!
There's such a DIVERSITY of young folks here who party after busting their butts working, from international to ghetto to yuppie...don't believe all that "Houston is just for raising families" b.s.
Regarding haters on the weather here: from mid October to mid May, we enjoy relatively pleasant weather most days...yet the haters can only say things like, "wait until serious humid and hellish July and August" as if those are the only months that exist here. These weather wussies have never experienced the true tropics out in Asia where it is at least late-May YEAR ROUND. In Houston, we have to deal with that for about five months...but certainly NOT year round.
I agree with you worldlyman, except the part about 3am pizza lol; there's small college towns that have that lol. Also to all the people saying inner loop houston is expensive, keep in mind that it's relative cause he's coming from NY. Most prices will seem affordable to him comparatively. You can still get really nice 1 bedroom in new high rise apartments for $1300-$1600 in a good part of town here. That would be a joke in NYC, SF, Boston, Chicago, Miami, etc. I saw a 2 bedroom in SF's financial district that was $5300 a month! wtf!?!
Last edited by curbur; 05-24-2015 at 02:05 PM..
Reason: grammar
Having lived in SoCal for a few years and visited the Bay Area numerous times, I've never felt too entitled to elevated topography to bash a lush, green and very pleasant place like Houston.
I much prefer the wacky varied commercial scales and pace within the Houston area rather than the monotonous blocks of San Francisco. I feel a much more fluid sense of adventure around the Houston area rather than the same old boxes of places like Chicago and San Fran.
For routine consumption, I'd much rather have the futuristic (yet no less lively) form of Houston's Chinatown versus the fit-for-tourism construct of SF's old-world Chinatown.
Downtown Houston is still a center of high-powered sophisticated culture and interesting unusual bars AFTER 6pm unlike what the haters will be deceitful with. No, due to having many activity centers, downtown Houston is not an entertainment mass center but there are still bars and cultural activities and concerts to hit. I find pleasure in walking down the Main St. lights at night, feels like a futuristic Blade Runner setting.
"No activity" on the weekends in downtown Houston?
I find it difficult to park close to bars in downtown Houston on a Friday or Saturday night. Even Thursdays. "No activity" but it's funny how you can get a slice (or many slices) of pizza until 3:00 am in downtown Houston on weekends to accommodate the bar crawlers and sports go-ers. An appreciable number of spots do well in Houston after dark, from 12 Spot to No-tsu-oh to Flying Saucer and many points nearby.
Houston is an area of many distinct areas which offer differing senses of street design and architecture from Rice Village to Kemah's Light House District to Chinatown's late night neon bars to the oddball Munster's vibe White Oak bar crawl among quite a few others...so what if lazy people cannot handle a sense of adventure in a sprawling metro? Do not let them ruin a good sense of adventure.
We have the futuristic style like City Centre, we have the traditional style like Main St. in downtown. There is a mix of old and new here in Houston. Those who enjoy variety will not have a problem with Houston. Those who are closed-minded Anal Urbanists will never really appreciate it here, conversely.
Centralized entertainment districts with a hundred bars like in those old-school or touristy burgs (the districts you get tired of going to over and over again, weekend after weekend. I lived in San Diego's Gas Lamp for a few months and that got lame really quick) ...baloney. Like someone is really going to be able to sample just 15 of them and then a nightcap at a nearby cafe, then simply go home.
I like being able to enjoy an ARRAY of WIDE DECK PARTY PATIOS on Richmond Avenue (a party environment format not available in the Bay Area) one weekend...yet another weekend later, I can enjoy the tighter urban format of Midtown Houston or downtown or the Montrose...then for another weekend, those eccentric palapa bars by the water in Kemah. Love Zone 504, T-Bone Tom's entertainment/food as well as the yellow Palapa Bar.
It's great to party in Houston metro. Whether near skyscrapers, or in converted mini-mansions or converted bungalows or in conventional urban block buildings or stylish strip centers, so MANY cafe/bar formats here...I never feel like I'm in the same Human Habi-trail here in the H-town environs!
There's such a DIVERSITY of young folks here who party after busting their butts working, from international to ghetto to yuppie...don't believe all that "Houston is just for raising families" b.s.
Regarding haters on the weather here: from mid October to mid May, we enjoy relatively pleasant weather most days...yet the haters can only say things like, "wait until serious humid and hellish July and August" as if those are the only months that exist here. These weather wussies have never experienced the true tropics out in Asia where it is at least late-May YEAR ROUND. In Houston, we have to deal with that for about five months...but certainly NOT year round.
Take that to the bank.
"Dreadful" my a--.
Seriously, you should look into a career in marketing. You would be very good at it.
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